I also mentioned that the rate of death — the number of bodies
found per 100,000 Border Patrol apprehensions — has been on the
rise for the last decade. Below, I've posted the year-by-year
figures for both total deaths and the rate, based on the
Arizona Daily Star's border death database.

One thing, however, that didn't fit in the story was that the
border death tally through the first seven months of fiscal year
2011 (which started on Oct. 1) is down a bit from last year.

The 87 bodies recovered through April 31 mark a 23-percent
decrease than the 112 at the same time in fiscal 2010, the Star’s
database shows. The figure puts 2011 on pace with past years.
Here's the year-by-year total through April:

Fiscal year totals through April 31:

2004: 88

2005: 76

2006: 92

2007: 88

2008: 79

2009: 89

2010: 112

2011: 87

Of course, these yearly tallies may not actually depict the
number of illegal border crossers who died in that year because
bodies are often found several months after the person dies. Some
are never found.

When skeletal remains are found, for instance, it can be
difficult for medical examiner's to estimate when the person
actually died.

An increasing number of the remains being found are skeletal
remains, including more than half of the bodies this fiscal year —
48 of the 87, according to the Star’s database. That's a much
higher percentage than any of the previous four years, when
skeletal remains accounted for 19-27 perent of bodies
recovered.

Those bodies may have been out there for weeks, months or years.
In Arizona's scorching summer heat, a body can decompose in a
matter of weeks, I've been told by staff at the Pima County Medical
Examiner's Office.

The bottom line remains that – whether they died in 2007, 2009
or 2011 — the number of bodies and bones recovered in Arizona's
desert continues at alarming levels.

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Bodies recovered

The number of bodies of illegal border crossers recovered in
Arizona's desert from New Mexico to Yuma County, by fiscal
year:

2002: 142

2003: 177

2004: 196

2005: 233

2006: 189

2007: 234

2008: 185

2009: 215

2010: 252

2011*: 88

*Through April 31

Source: Arizona Daily Star border death database

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Death rate

Known deaths per 100,000 apprehensions in Border Patrol’s Tucson
Sector, by fiscal year: